Related articles

I could admire Allan [McGregor]’s performance in the derby game. He had some good saves in the game.

Craig Gordon

Gordon said: “I could admire Allan’s performance in the derby game. He had some good saves in the game.

“But you expect that from him, to pull off those types of save. He kept the score down. There will be times this season when Allan won’t have a lot to do in games.

“It just so happened that he had a bit of work before this international break. So maybe he will need a rest for the next two games!

“We’ve got quite a young squad now. It has changed a little bit. But we’ve got a couple of old-timers still at the very back of it. I was talking to Allan about the game and how he was feeling – he’s turning 37 in January.

“I was asking him how the body was holding up, swapping stories about how we’re both managing to keep going. We came through Edinburgh schoolboys together at 14 and 15, playing against each other – and playing, in fact, in the same team.

“I was playing a year up and would sit on the bench for the older schoolboys, while he was starting. It’s great that we’re both still going strong at this late stage of our careers.

“We respect each other as goalkeepers. There has never been any bad blood or animosity between us at any point.”

Gordon arrives for international duty in good spirits. A nightmare transfer window for Celtic was temporarily forgotten thanks to the 1-0 Old Firm win.

Gordon acknowledges that the loss of Stuart Armstrong, Moussa Dembele and Patrick Roberts has cost them three class acts.

He added: “We knew it was going to be a difficult test with Rangers on the back of a good run of a lot of games undefeated.